{"id":4056,"date":"2012-04-24T10:04:27","date_gmt":"2012-04-24T16:04:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stylusmagazine.ca\/?p=4056"},"modified":"2012-04-24T10:04:27","modified_gmt":"2012-04-24T16:04:27","slug":"sleigh-bells-reign-of-terror","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/2012\/04\/24\/sleigh-bells-reign-of-terror\/","title":{"rendered":"Sleigh Bells \u2013 Reign of Terror"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><span id=\"internal-source-marker_0.38504201429896057\"><a rel=\"attachment wp-att-4057\" href=\"http:\/\/stylusmagazine.ca\/2012\/04\/24\/sleigh-bells-%e2%80%93-reign-of-terror\/592cd22cfc020e053c265ac37cd09b5b079f79b8\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4057\" title=\"592cd22cfc020e053c265ac37cd09b5b079f79b8\" src=\"http:\/\/stylusmagazine.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/592cd22cfc020e053c265ac37cd09b5b079f79b8.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<div><span id=\"internal-source-marker_0.38504201429896057\"><a rel=\"attachment wp-att-4057\" href=\"http:\/\/stylusmagazine.ca\/2012\/04\/24\/sleigh-bells-%e2%80%93-reign-of-terror\/592cd22cfc020e053c265ac37cd09b5b079f79b8\/\"><\/a><br \/>\n<em>Reign of Terror<\/em> is about a struggle.<!--more--> From album and interior artwork (drops of blood on a pair of Keds, explosions, and World War II memorabilia) to song titles (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=887Glv9BSkg\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cBorn to Lose,\u201d<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Nm2CvHKYWTY\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cEnd of the Line,\u201d<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=YiwcUdX7XMw&amp;feature=relmfu\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cComeback Kid,\u201d<\/a> \u201cYou Lost Me,\u201d \u201cNever Say Die\u201d) we see this theme \u00a0play out again and again. The aggression of the music itself, though not as pushed-into-the-red as their previous album, only complements the feeling of a great struggle. But with who or what? And is it victorious?<\/p>\n<p>The lyrics are peppered with indefinite references to being in conflict with \u201cyou\u201d or \u201cthe kids\u201d or \u201cthem\/they,\u201d though we don\u2019t know exactly who these would be. There are a few moments of triumph in these songs, with tracks like \u201cCrush\u201d asking \u201cWho you gonna run to now?\u201d Escape is another theme that runs darkly throughout. Self-destructive thoughts manifest recurrently. Tracks \u201cEnd of the Line\u201d and \u201cBorn to Lose\u201d seem particularly hopeless, whereas \u201cNever Say Die\u201d implores the individual to not \u201cgive up the ship.\u201d A sort of meta-insecurity appears as well in \u201cD.O.A.\u201d (\u201chow come nobody knows the chorus\u201d) and in \u201cRoad to Hell\u201d (\u201cwe can learn how to take apart this verse again\u201d).<\/p>\n<p><em>Reign of Terror<\/em> doesn\u2019t viscerally hit as hard as their previous album; there\u2019s no <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=fheYx_ZPU18\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cInfinity Guitars\u201d<\/a> or <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=9czwr7telTw&amp;feature=relmfu\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cRill Rill.\u201d<\/a> But <em>Reign of Terror<\/em> is a much more clearly thought-out album, and what it lacks in visceral punch it makes up in emotional punch. (Mom + Pop, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.momandpopmusic.com\/\">momandpopmusic.com<\/a>) <strong>Devin King<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reign of Terror is about a struggle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[453,871],"class_list":["post-4056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-indie","tag-sleigh-bells"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4056\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}